A life of experiences

I found Nemo!

It’s been quite a while since the previous item checked off my list, but finally I am able to say that I have completed one more. As I have stated in the previous post, we have been to Malaysia on our honeymoon in the past couple of weeks. The last four days we spent on the small island of Tioman, near the east coast of peninsular Malaysia. It’s a nice little island, not as tropical as I imagined but a great place to spend a couple of days. Plus, it has quite a bit of beautiful and accessible coral reefs, which make for a great diving and snorkeling spot.

Even though I have had a PADI diver’s license for two years now, ever since getting it I haven’t been diving anymore. I decided it’s just not for me, too much hassle with all the gear and preparations for a little bit of underwater fun. Luckily, on Tioman, you can see a LOT of underwater wildlife while snorkeling. We made a snorkeling trip consisting of three times around 45 minutes on three different spots around Tioman and the little islands surrounding it. It was amazing. Perfectly clear and warm water and lots and lots of fish. Big (up to over 1 meter in length!) and small, in all colours you can imagine. We also encountered lots of sea urchins (from a safe distance), sea cucumbers, small species of octopus and a single sea snake. At times we were right in the middle of schools of hundreds of bright yellow and blue tropical fish. Truly an unforgettable experience, and one which I thought could only be experienced through watching Discovery Channel.

And on the subject of my bucket list, between the anemones, were clownfish. They’re actually even smaller than I imagined, but nevertheless, they’re awesome to see. Brightly orange and white, just like Nemo, they hide between the anemones, only popping out their heads every now and then, but never straying far. I spent quite a bit of time just hovering above them, totally in peace. Wonderful.

All this made the snorkeling trip definitely one of the highlights of the whole holiday, and it also made me decide definitely never to go scuba diving again. What’s the point if you can see so much with just a cheap snorkel and goggles?

ABOUT

Hi, I'm Bas! Welcome to my personal weblog, where I keep track of all the things I want to do before I kick the bucket, and the actions I take in order to achieve them. I hope this will inspire you to do something similar. Life's too short!